Do You?
by Risski
Summary: I look down at my drink then over to a happy couple that sat across from us. The man's arms were wrapped around the woman's waist so tight as if she would disappear if he let her go. Slight hint F/S and i think J/F just a little


**I do not own Cowboy Bebop or its characters. This story is completely made up and has nothing to do with the actual series, that's why it's call fan fiction. ^_^ ENJOY**

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It's Saturday, what would have been a normal day, but thanks to a certain lunkhead, it's only one week after his incident. I am sitting with Jet at a little bar inside a casino, the same casino where it all began, back on the eve where I met him. We are sitting in a little booth in the darkest corner, I could find. It was my idea to come here. I suggested it in a playful way, but in truth I felt a strong need to return and revisit the way I felt before it all began. I wanted to ask jet if he would like to here the story of that first blackjack game, but instead I tell him a story about the latest bounty I caught.

"That guy sounds like a miserable human being."

I laugh because it's all I know to do, but he is quick to notice it.

"Faye, we don't have to be here."

I almost wanted to believe that.

"We can leave now if you want?"

I look down at my drink then over to a happy couple that sat across from us. The man's arms were wrapped around the woman's waist so tight as if she would disappear if he let her go. I can't help but to think that maybe, just maybe, if things were different. If our past hadn't held so strong to us, maybe we could have been inside of something so special. But that's just a huge 'what-if.'

"It looks nicer than it actually is."

I look back to jet, my eyebrow rising to his statement. I reach for my glass, "How would you know?"

And before my fingers even graze the cool glass he answers, "Well, as many relationships we had been in don't you think we would know a thing or two by now?"

I smile, knowing he is trying to cheer me up; however, I don't think he realizes I wasn't ready to be cheered up, that I needed this night. I needed this small moment in my life to get so drunk that I wouldn't be able to see straight, but I know I won't get that far. I look up at Jet and study his face, he has many scars that I never notices before, probably from his ISSP days. I hear him clear his throat in a self-conscious way and I laugh, he laughs to, but when our eyes meet the smiles fade in unison. We turn away from each other and sit in an unusually easy silence.

"Jet?" I am the one to break the barrier.

"Yeah?"

I know I shouldn't ask, but I need to know, "Do you miss him?"

"Yes," he says it firmly. "But there's nothing we can do about it now."

I knew that already.

We sit in silence for another ten minutes or so before he returns the question.

"How about you?" his voice becomes soft, almost father like, "Do you miss him?"

I consider his questions. I am mostly calm, but my heart is screaming at me to finally break down and cry. But I can't. I think of everything that I had shared with that lunkhead. Until now our lives had been so intertwined. He had been in so many of my positive memories, and some of my worst. Our first blackjack game together, in this casino. Fighting over the cigarettes under the couch cushion, even though he knew they were mine. Chasing after a past that never was and running from a past that would kill someone. All of it was with him by my side. And then there are our personal memories. The secrets that we only told each other when no one was around, of course we were usually drunk, but we never told a soul. No one else would understand.

Jet is watching me intently, waiting for my answer.

"Yes." I finally say, somewhat apologetically, "I miss him. I can't help it."

He nods in understanding. I wonder what Jet felt that night. I know I felt like I lost my memories again, but I guess it really can't be helped now.

"I invited Ed back to the ship."

I run my hand along my empty glass; I remember the night we told Edward about his death. I was shocked when she just sat there at first, but when I saw her lower lip quiver, I knew. I knew right then and there, Edward had lost someone important to her. Hell, we all did.

I stare down at my finger a nail, marveling at how much has changed in such a short time. How much I have changed. I was a gambling-con-artist, an unreliable person. I mad reckless, terrible choices and hope it would have worked out in the end. Then I met and became attached to a lunkhead, never realizing I could be in love until it was too late. Fate intervened before I had a chance to say anything. But that night in the hallway, it opened my eyes to what I didn't want to believe then. And when the stakes are high, the losses can be that much greater.

Jet and I talk for a long time, covering virtually every moment of our pass year, chronicling it all, the good and the gory. Mostly we laugh, and only once do I get teary, when we get to the part where he said his final goodbyes to us, realizing my goodbye was a lot harsher then Jet's. I tell Jet how I didn't want to hear a signal word of what that lunkhead said that night. He says he is sorry. I say that he has no reason to be sorry, that he didn't at the time, and certainly doesn't now.

And then at midnight, comes the sweet sound of a saxophone, playing softly at first then building momentum before the rest of the band joins. It reminds me of Gren. I smile and I look up to the stage to see the musician, he is a young man, no older than me. Usually, I would play cat and mouse with a guy like that, but not tonight or any nights to follow.

I close my eyes and listen to the rich music that fills the air. Then it occurs to me that tonight is the ending and a beginning. But for once I embrace both. The end of the song nears when I open my eyes to see Jet smiling.

"You want to go home?"

I nod, "Yeah, I do."

We stand and walk through the smoky bar, leaving before the saxophone can drag me back in. We even make it out of the casino before we can think about gambling. It's a clam night. The bright night star is visible through glass orb that surrounds it. I follow closely behind Jet as we stroll up to the docking by entrance.

"Oh, honey look!" I see the same couple from earlier looking up into the sky, the woman's slender arm pointing up. "It's so pretty."

Stopping, I look up. I see a shooting star and I can't help but to smile.

_**Your star has fallen cowboy…**_


End file.
